Arts Industry Council Victoria

background

Arts Industry Council (Victoria) has a significant impact on policy, arts funding and program delivery by all all tiers of government in Victoria and Australia despite its poor resourcing. It aims to remain a major force in leading the policy debate both within creative industries and to government.

Making industry submissions to the Nugent Enquiry into Performing Arts, Review of the Small to Medium Performing Arts Sector, Contemporary Visual Arts and Crafts inquiry (Myer Report), City of Melbourne's City Plan 2010 and its Arts Strategy 2004 and numerous others.

More recently AIC(V) has been vocal in opposition to the inclusion of culture in the Free Trade Agreement with the United States of America and made a submission to the Senate Committee.

AIC(V) is also taking an active role in working to ensure that the interests of artsworkers and Australian communities are considered in the current restructure of the Australia Council.

Structure

AIC(V) is a non-profit incorporated association governed by a volunteer Board. The Board drawn from financial members of AIC(V) and elected at Annual General Meetings.

AIC(V) relies on membership fees for its survival and receives no on-going operational funding support from government.

An Executive Officer is contracted for the equivalent of one day a week to service the Board and is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation.

History

The Arts Industry Council (Victoria) was formed in November 1989 following a public meeting to protest cuts in the Arts Development Fund in the 1989-1990 state budget allocation to the Victorian Ministry of the Arts. It was incorporated in 1990.

In recognition of the need for a peak industry body to represent all the arts in Victoria, organisations and individuals immediately supported a much-needed industry voice. Through the AIC(V), this voice now fulfils an important function, showing a united face that represents all areas of arts activity in Victoria working for common purpose.

Since 1990 the AIC(V) has made powerful contributions to lobbying, campaigning and policy – sometimes publicly, usually quietly and behind the scenes. Significant achievements over this time include:

• Developing and sustaining a unified voice for the arts community;
• Presenting a petition signed by 30,000 Victorians to the Minister for the Arts;
• Working extensively on the draft Cultural Policy for Victoria;
• Holding a State Conference, Arts 2000 : Setting an Agenda , devising a unified vision for the arts 1990-2000;
• Initiating Towards Federation , a state by state series of forums leading to the formation of the National Campaign for the Arts (later wound up in 1997);
• Making budget submissions in significant years and monitoring threats to arts funding;
• Liaising regularly with the Victorian Ministry for the Arts and then Arts Victoria;
• Compiling Burning Issues documentation of needs of the industry (1993-1999) and negotiating with Arts Victoria for policy development;
• Consulting broadly with the arts sector to develop united policy positions on a range of issues;
• Undertaking extensive consultation with the arts sector in 2001 to prepare report called Making It Real, detailing strategic focus for arts and culture from the sector's perspective. This forms the basis of AIC(V)'s own policy agenda.
• Making It Real was a significant source document for the development of the Victorian Government's arts strategy, Creative Capacity + released in 2003.